Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Review: Atomic Robo

So, this year at free comic book day (see blog post numero uno), I picked up a comic containing something called Atomic Robo. Not really knowing what to expect, I read it cautiously, thinking to myself, "Well, the title says Why Atomic Robo Hates Dr. Dinosaur. This could be awesome, or it could be worse than season three of Heros. Wait, nothing could be worse than season three of Heros, so I'll give this comic a try."

Happily, after my interior monologue, I realized that Atomic Robo was awesome! Totally awesome! It's basically the robot version of Hellboy, but more guns and less Cthulu*. Oddly enough though, there's about the same amount of Nazis (personally, I think Nazis are really satisfying villains. They were total nutjobs with good graphic artists. Seriously, what other evil-doer stands behind a giant art deco eagle?). There's not enough Tesla; though he's Robo's creator, we have yet to see him. I hope that when they finally have him come around, he's really just be David Bowie (Having Bowie there was the only thing that made The Prestige watchable) because, Nazi-beating Robot + David Bowie rocking the Pervert 'Stache = aaaaawesome. Since picking up the free comic, I've read the trades, and the good times don't stop at Dr. Dinosaur. Besides the Nazis smashing, there's pyramid smashing, giant ant smashing, AND Steven Hawking mocking (no smashing). Who could ask for anything more?

On the more serious side of Robo, there's this underlying layer of sadness that you begin to see as you read more issues. Maybe it's just me and I'm reading too far into it, but Robo, being self aware, realizes that all these people who call him a friend, partner, or ally will grow old and die, while Robo will live on forever. It's in small moments when he notes the passing of an old army buddy, or bypasses questions of his longevity with a quick joke when you start to wonder if Atomic Robo is making jokes because he's funny, or if he is trying to circumnavigate thoughts of his dying friends with humor and brevity?

Whoa. What a downer. I didn't really mean to make this post into a robotic theological discussion, but there I went and spoiled it for everyone.

Honestly, this comic is not sad and weepy! It's laugh out loud funny! It's really really worth your time so pick it up already!

*Well, in Volume 3, there's apparently some Lovecrafty monsters, but I'm only picking this up in trades, so meh.